Date | November 2017 | Marks available | 15 | Reference code | 17N.3op4.HL.TZ0.31 |
Level | Higher level only | Paper | Paper 3 (History of Europe) | Time zone | TZ0 |
Command term | Discuss | Question number | 31 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
“Stalin’s Five-Year Plans and the policy of collectivization failed to improve the Soviet economy by 1941.” Discuss.
Markscheme
The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the assertion that the Soviet economy was not improved by either the Five-Year Plans or by Collectivization. Candidates may choose to define the aims of both policies and then assess the success and failures of each in relation to the economic growth of the Soviet Union, they may elect to address the two policies separately or they may provide an integrated assessment of both. Some may argue that despite the many criticisms and weaknesses of the Five-Year Plans they were an overall success, giving the Soviet Union the industrial capacity to withstand invasion and to become a superpower. Collectivization was arguably a political success (dekulakization and the extension of party control in the regions) but an economic disaster, as agriculture did not recover until the 1950s.